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Revision as of 20:38, 28 August 2008

St Patrick's Athletic
St Pat's Athletic Crest
Full nameSt. Patrick’s Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s)Saints, Pat's
Founded1929
GroundRichmond Park, Inchicore,
Dublin
Capacity5,500 (3,000 seated)
ChairmanGarrett Kelleher
ManagerJohn McDonnell
LeagueFAI League of Ireland
20072nd, Eircom League

St Patrick's Athletic Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is an Irish football club playing in the Football League of Ireland Premier Division. The club, founded in 1929, hails from the Dublin suburb of Inchicore and play their home matches at Richmond Park. Club colours are Red and White, and the club goes by the nickname The Saints. The current manager is John McDonnell.

History

St Patrick's Athletic F.C. was founded in 1929. The first season was played in Phoenix Park but in 1930 St Pats moved into Richmond Park. Known as the Saints or simply as 'Pats' the club quickly climbed up the junior and intermediate ranks of Irish football and by the end of the 1940s were established as the top non-League of Ireland side in the country. After winning the FAI Intermediate Cup in 1948 and 1949 moves were made by the League of Ireland to entice St Pats into their competition.

In 1951 the club was admitted, along with Cork side Evergreen United, to the senior ranks of the League of Ireland. St Pats made an immediate impact, winning the league championship at their first attempt. Two more league championship successes followed in 1954/1955 and 1955/1956. The club had to wait until 1959 before their first FAI Cup success, repeating the feat in 1961. Despite several appearances in the final since 1961 the Saints have so far failed to secure a third Cup win.

Many of the Pats players of that golden era are still recalled fondly today - Ginger O'Rourke, Harry Boland ('The Legend', 1926-2000), Irish international Shay Gibbons, Ronnie Whelan Snr. and Willie Peyton are players who contributed greatly during this era.

The early years of the club saw much movement as Pats played "home games" in venues such as Milltown, Chapelizod Greyhound Stadium and Dalymount Park. The club returned to its original home of Richmond Park, Inchicore in 1960 and stayed there until 1989. Another period in "exile" in the greyhound stadium in Harolds Cross followed before the club finally returned to Richmond Park in 1993.

St Pats struggled throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s with only the odd cup final or young star emerging to brighten things for long suffering Pats fans. Among those players to emerge was Noel Campbell. Campbell spent a number of years with St Pats (gaining the first of his Irish caps) before moving to SC Fortuna Köln where he would play 8 seasons. Perhaps the brightest star to play for St Pats was Paul McGrath. McGrath was signed by Saints' manager Charlie Walker from junior side Dalkey United. Within a year he had won the PFAI Player of the Year award and earned himself a move to Manchester United.

The appointment of Brian Kerr as manager in 1986 was a major turning point in the fortunes of the club. Kerr worked on limited resources to create team capable of challenging the best. The championship was denied his team in 1988 on the final day of that season but two years later they were finally crowned Champions of Ireland and thus began a prolonged era of success which made St Pats the undisputed 'Team of the Nineties' in Irish Football, thanks to four championships in the decade. At the end of the 1988/89 season St Pats left Richmond Park for what the board of directors called "a short time" while redevelopment work was done.

Playing in Harold's Cross, Kerr's blend of young players (Paul Osam, Curtis Fleming, Pat Fenlon, John McDonnell) and experienced campaigners disregarded by other clubs (Damian Byrne, Dave Henderson) won the club's first league championship in 34 years on Easter Monday 1990. Most Irish football commentators expected the young Saints to dominate Irish football for some time. A series of takeover attempts saw the club thrust into turmoil and Kerr was forced to break up the team. In the summer of 1992 the club were hours away from extinction before a group of local investors raised £82,000 to save the club.

Having spent four years in Harold's Cross the club returned to a new look Richmond Park in 1993, their spiritual home in Dublin's Inchicore. Brian Kerr began the task of creating a winning setup once again. With the aid of a newly appointed Chief Executive, and former player, Pat Dolan and by the club's new Chairman, Tim O'Flaherty, the league trophy returned to Richmond Park in 1996.

A new generation of footballing heroes emerged in Pats colours with greats such as Eddie Gormley, Paul Osam and Ricky O'Flaherty together with exciting young stars such as Colin Hawkins and Trevor Molloy and thousands flocked to Inchicore for Friday nights under the floodlights in Richmond Park. When Kerr resigned to take up the Director of Coaching job with the FAI, the good work was continued by Pat Dolan and then Liam Buckley installed as manager. The glory continued as further league championships were secured in 1998 and 1999 which led to European qualification and a creditable 0-0 draw with the famous Celtic at Celtic Park, the club lost the return leg in Tolka Park, Dublin but the away draw was a major boost for Irish football against such a famous club in the world game. The club however suffered a humiliating setback in the same competition one year later when they lost 10-0 on aggregate to Zimbru Chişinău.

Into the new millennium the success continued. St. Pats won both the League Cup and Leinster Senior Cup in 2000/01. Controversy dogged the club in the 2001/02 season due to player registration irregularities. The club had 9 points deducted due to fielding an ineligible player (Paul Marney) in their first 3 games of the season, but this decision was revoked upon arbitration, on March 22 2002. They then had 15 points deducted for playing Charles Mbabazi Livingstone in the first 5 matches of the season in spite of not having registered him until September 12, 2001. St. Pats argued that they did not intentionally seek to gain advantage as the player was registered correctly the previous season, there was nothing underhand about it. An FAI arbitration panel would reject the Saints appeal of the point deduction and to this day the Saints still contest that they are the rightful league champions. That season also saw St. Patrick's come close to merging with fellow League of Ireland club St. Francis F.C. This move was greeted with anger by club supporters and although St. Francis went out of business (and therefore the league) the merger never happened.

New Club Chairman Andrew O'Callaghan was appointed in the summer of 2002 and has worked to modernize the club and face the new challenges of UEFA licensing and ground development. St. Pats made Irish footballing history in 2002 by becoming the first club to progress in the Intertoto Cup with a victory over Croatian team NK Rijeka over two legs - the club were eventually knocked out of the competition only on away goals to K.A.A. Gent of Belgium.

The club marked its 75th anniversary in 2004. In 2005 the club where forced to investigate the idea of sharing a new stadium in Tallaght with Shamrock Rovers in order to comply with the FAI's wish for Dublin clubs to ground share. The move was met with furious protests by the club's supporters and a group calling themselves 'Pats for Richmond' was set up to organise demonstrations. In July 2006 St. Pats signalled their intention to stay in Richmond Park by purchasing the Richmond House pub (also known as McDowell’s} for use as an official clubhouse. Unfortunately the club lost yet another FAI Cup Final in December 2006 and their hunt for their 3rd victory in the elusive competition continues. In early 2007 the club was purchased by wealthy property magnate Garrett Kelleher. After a number of months of negotiations, Kelleher finally announced himself as Chairman of St Patrick's Athletic on July 19, 2007. [1] One of his first acts on taking over St Pats was to appoint ex manager Brian Kerr as director of football. It was widely reported in Irish newspapers that Kelleher was preparing to spend €50 million on upgrading St. Pats' Richmond Park home.

Community

The club motto is Ni neart go cur le chéile (as Gaeilge). It translates to No strength without unity. St Patrick's Athletic is strongly linked with Inchicore and the local south west Dublin community. The club operate schoolboy teams at every age group from under 10 to under 18. They also play in the eircom League Under 21 league, having won it several times recently. In the past St. Patrick's Athletic Ladies played in the Dublin Women’s Soccer League (the de facto Ladies League of Ireland), winning the league championship in 1997. Many of that team won international honours and in 1998 Emma Byrne and Ciara Grant were transferred to Arsenal. Although the senior ladies side no longer exists, there are several girls’ sides within the club.

Overall European record

Record by competition

European Cup/UEFA Champions League:

Appearances Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
3 6 0 2 4 1 17

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup:

Appearances Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
5 11 2 2 7 12 25

Cup Winners Cup:

Appearances Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
1 2 0 0 2 1 8

Intertoto Cup:

Appearances Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
1 4 2 0 2 6 6

Overall:

Appearances Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
10 23 4 4 15 20 56

Past opponents

Season Competition Country Team Score
1961-62 Cup Winners' Cup Preliminary Round Scotland Dunfermline Athletic F.C. 1-4, 0-4 (1-8 agg.)
1967-68 Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round France FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1-3, 3-6 (4-9 agg.)
1988-89 UEFA Cup First Round Scotland Heart of Midlothian F.C. 0-2, 0-2 (0-4 agg.)
1990-91 European Cup First Round Romania FC Dinamo Bucureşti 0-4, 1-1 (1-5 agg.)
1996-97 UEFA Cup Preliminary Round Slovakia ŠK Slovan Bratislava 3-4, 0-1 (3-5 agg.)
1998-99 UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round Scotland Celtic F.C. 0-0, 0-2 (0-2 agg.)
1999-00 UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round Moldova FC Zimbru Chişinău 0-5, 0-5 (0-10 agg.)
2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup First Round Croatia NK Rijeka 3-2, 0-1 (3-3 agg.) won on away goals
2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup Second Round Belgium K.A.A. Gent 0-2, 3-1 (3-3 agg.) lost on away goals
2007-08 UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round Denmark Odense Boldklub 0-0, 0-5 (0-5 agg.)
2008-09 UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round Latvia JFK Olimps Rīga 1-0, 2-0 (3-0 agg.)
2008-09 UEFA Cup First Round Ongoing

Current squad

As of August 2008 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Ireland EIR Barry Ryan
GK United States USA Lance Friesz
22 GK Ireland EIR Robbie Horgan (player/goalkeeping coach)
2 DF Ireland EIR Stephen Brennan
16 DF Wales WAL David Partridge
5 DF Ireland EIR Des Byrne
24 DF Ireland EIR Stephen Paisley
16 DF Wales WAL Jamie Harris (captain)
26 DF Ireland EIR Dave Rogers
15 DF Ireland EIR Joe O'Cearuill
4 DF Ireland EIR Jason Gavin
19 DF Ireland EIR Noel Haverty
No. Pos. Nation Player
6 DF Ireland EIR Damien Lynch
10 MF Poland POL Jarosław Białek
7 MF Ireland EIR Alan Kirby
8 MF Ireland EIR Keith Fahey
10 MF Ireland EIR Derek O’Brien
14 MF Ireland EIR Bobby Ryan
17 MF Ireland EIR Gary Dempsey
21 MF United States USA Ryan Guy
11 FW Ireland EIR Mark Quigley
9 FW Ireland EIR Gary O'Neill
12 FW Ireland EIR Glen Fitzpatrick
22 FW England ENG John Murphy

On Loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF Cameroon CMR Joseph Ndo (on loan to Shamrock Rovers)
3 DF Ireland EIR John Frost (on loan to Sporting Fingal)
20 GK Ireland EIR Brendan Clarke (on loan to Sporting Fingal)

Honours

Notes

  • ^ Won by the club's reserve side.
  • ^ Won as a non-league side
  • ^ Last ever winners

Notable players

Current players excluded. Some players spanned several decades, they are placed in the decade they made their debut for St Patrick's.

Template:Multicol 1950s

1960s

1970s

Template:Multicol-break 1980s

1990s

2000s

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Records

  • St. Pats Full League Record

P 1551 W 622 D 418 L 510 F 2284 A 2121 Pts 1879

Statistics are correct up to 02/08/2007
Above points tally is the amount of points earned in real terms. In most seasons the league used a 2 pts for a win system
If using a straight 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw system, St. Pats would've earned 2284 points

See also

References

  1. ^ stpatsfc.com (2007). "Board Appointments at St Patrick's Athletic FC". stpatsfc.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

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